Shera R. Sever: Igniting the Spark™

This past week has been a wonderful reminder of how good it feels to GIVE, and even more so, to do it, anonymously.

One of the communities that I am part of hosts an annual gathering on Dec. 24 in Sonoma County, CA. In addition to healthy, organic food and chocolate, we participate in a sustainable gift exchange.  No purchases, no additional consumption,  but rather, an offering of a treasure that you no longer use/need. During the “dancing” exchange, we keep passing from hand to hand these wrapped anonymous gifts, until the music finally stops.  It always turns out that each one of us receives the absolute perfect gift!

Here in my neighborhood, I love setting boxes of used “treasures” and clothes out for passerbys to take home. There is a Chinese woman who visits my “boxes” regularly. She also helps herself to the recycling bin before the weekly city pick up, and receives a few cents for each glass container that she recovers from the bin.

Last week, I saw her walking by with her shopping cart. She stopped, pointing to her feet. “Shoes good”, she said with a big smile.  I was delighted to see my pair of black clogs fitting her feet perfectly.

I am a big believer in tithing, and set aside 10% of my annual income to donate to such organizations as Global Exchange, Spirit Rock, Bay Area NVC, IONS, Seva Foundation, and CEO Women among others. 

TITHING

Do you tithe?  For more information on tithing and prosperity, read Catherine Ponder’s works, starting with The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity.  Catherine did not market and sell “The Secret.” Rather, she shared her simple formula starting back in 1958 to groups of business leaders, helping them go from recession to abundance!

 SHARE YOUR ABUNDANCE

In this time of reviewing, reflecting, assessing, and goal setting, take stock of all you have to be grateful for. To whom can you give anonymously?  What can you let go of (behaviors, beliefs, or actual “things” ) to bring in the new?  Share your abundance.  This is the SECRET!

 “Even after all this time,

The Sun never says to the Earth,

You owe me.

Look what happens to a love like that. . .

It lights up the whole sky.”

Hafiz

Producer Annie Leonard, along with the Tides Foundation and an impressive list of NGO’s have done a terrific job at synthesizing a very complex reality in this revealing movie. For all my colleagues who are educators, how can we promote and incorporate this into our middle school and high school curricula? I believe this could also very easily be used as teaching tool in an ESL (English as a Second Language) classroom. Would love to hear your comments.

Story of Stuff

Even if you’re sitting on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” -Will Rogers

Like many clients I have worked with, I am a Personality Type Seven in the Enneagram System meaning, I like to keep my options open. In Northern California, some call this “going with the flow”, and may use this strategy as their chosen methodology for postponing decision-making and commitments.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I am all for being in the flow. After all, that’s where magic happens. There is a great awareness that arises in this “Being with What Is”- or as Gil Fronsdal calls it, the Practice of “Not-Knowing”. Socrates said, “The realization of not knowing is the beginning of wisdom.” Practicing being comfortable with the unknown, yet trusting in an inherent wisdom by keeping the channel open is what Martha Graham coined, “The Blessed Unrest”.

I have spent many months in this “Blessed Unrest, practicing the “Not-Knowing” inquiry. I’ve learned to befriend radical uncertainty. When we practice being comfortable with the unknown, a deep inner knowing does emerge of a what is possible. This or something better! We don’t need to have all the answers to take action towards a desired outcome.

With the recent explosion of The Secret & The Law of Attraction, we have all been reminded that desires and passion coupled with focused intention and trust is the most powerful formula for manifestation. In order to create change and see specific results, it is essential to put our attention on what we want.

The Key is to FOCUS on the OUTCOME
as if it already EXISTS.

So, do you want to create the momentum that will produce optimal results in your business or organization? Would you like to attract more ideal clients? Increase your revenue? Double your income? Transition into a new career? Try these seemingly simple steps for 60 days and see the results:

1. Write your goals as affirmations. Writing is essential.It creates suggestion in the subconscious. Use present tense, with specifics: It is now March 2008, I have/am________ or my company is/has________.
Write what you will be doing and feeling when you are living in this outcome. Include as much detail as possible for evidence of achievement. This is a critical component in knowing/seeing that you have achieved your desired outcome.

2. Read these goals aloud 2-3 times a day- first thing in the morning and right before bedtime is very effective.

3. Use visuals to support your goals/affirmations: Create a collage or vision board. If you are leading a management team, facilitating a change initiative or strategic visioning process, I recommend using more sophisticated graphic template guides such as those available at www.grove.com.

4. Surround yourself with people who will support the achievement of your outcomes and hold you to high standards. Remove yourself from people and environments that do not support your vision.

5. Get inspired. Read autobiographies and biographies of your heroes, living or not. I was very motivated in my recent re-reading of Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, and following his “secret” 100%.

6. Saturate yourself with learning. Engage in personal development workshops and seminars. Harv Eker’s Millionaire Mind Intensives and Guerilla Business School are life-changing.

7. Vow to Play a Bigger Game. Marianne Williamson said it best: “. . . we ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?”

8. Maintain a consistent exercise program and balanced, healthy nutrition. Drink plenty of water. Reduce/eliminate sugar, alcohol, caffeine and red meat intake.

9. Every moment is a choice point. Living in this realization is very empowering. If you find yourself unclear at a choice point, be with the uncertainty. As one of my mentors often reminded me in times of anxiety or fear: ‘Don’t do anything, just be still.” Allow the inner flame of clarity to emerge. Then, refer back to the picture /words of your DESIRED OUTCOME and select an ACTION(S) that propels you towards your desires and goals.

10. Have fun with the process and enjoy the journey!

If it’s humanly possible, you CAN DO IT!

We all need support. Are you seeking a professional partner and vision keeper committed to helping you achieve desired outcomes in your business, organization, or with your “blessed unrest”? If so, contact me.  I’m here to serve!

I have been continuing my studies in Marshall Rosenberg’s revolutionary system of Commpassionate Communication since his personal appearance in the Bay Area last April. Recently, our facilitator at the Oakland NVC Center shared this ritual practiced by the Babemba tribe in Zambia:

Babemba Soul Song and Healing Ceremony

When a woman in the Babemba tribe of South Africa knows she is pregnant, she goes out into the wilderness with a few friends and together they pray and meditate until they hear the song of the child. They recognize that every soul has its own vibration that expresses its unique flavor and purpose. When the women attune to the song, they sing it out loud. Then they return to the tribe and teach it to everyone else.

This song is sung at every important event of the child. When he or she is born, the community gathers and sings the child’s song to him or her. Later, when the child enters education, the village gathers and chants the child’s song. When the child passes through the initiation to adulthood, the people again come together and sing. At the time of marriage, the person hears his or her song.

Finally, when the soul is about to pass from this world, the family and friends gather at the person’s bed, just as they did at their birth, and they sing the person to the next life.

In the Babemba tribe there is one other occasion upon which the villagers sing to the child. When a person acts irresponsibly or unjustly, he is placed in the center of the village, alone and unfettered. All work ceases, and every man, woman and child in the village gathers in a large circle around the accused individual. Then each person in the tribe speaks to the accused, one at a time, about all the good things the person in the center of the circle has done in his lifetime. Every incident, every experience that can be recalled with any detail and accuracy is recounted. All his positive attributes, good deeds, strengths and kindnesses are recited carefully and at length. The tribal ceremony often lasts several days. The tribal ceremony often lasts several days. At the end, the song is sung again, the tribal circle is broken, a joyous celebration takes place, and the person is symbolically and literally welcomed back into the tribe.

The tribe recognizes that the correction for antisocial behavior is not punishment, but love and the remembrance of identity. When you recognize your own song, you have no desire or need to do anything that would hurt another.

They believe a friend is someone who knows your song and sings it to you when you have forgotten it. Those who love you are not fooled by the mistakes you have made or the dark images you hold about yourself. They remember your beauty when you feel ugly; your wholeness when you are broken; your innocence when you feel guilty; and your purpose when you are confused.

As we move into the shortest (darkest) days of the year, and the potential challenges of the “holidays” in our culture, know your song and sing it. Surround yourselves with others that will remind you of your purpose and bring you back to your song when you seem to have temporarily lost your voice.

I have been following her stories and “guidance” for almost nine years. Along with Karen Bishop’s (What’s Up on Planet Earth), I am soaring! This is the Great Turning and we ARE the ones we’ve been waiting for.

It is the time for the final cut for the Galactic UN Peace Team!
from the The Star Elders and Aluna Joy

The arrival of the year of 2007 crashed through you like a burning asteroid or shook you like a massive earthquake. It transformed you with a huge tsunami of immaculate energy. If you have made it this far . . . meaning if you are still traveling on your spiritual path with impeccability and haven’t given up . . . and are still in a body living on this planet . . . Congratulations! You have now entered the final cut for the Galactic UN Peace Team. You have received the boarding pass for your great flight toward destiny. You have earned the diploma from the cosmic university of divine light. So… give yourself a BIG pat on the back, you made it! But Holy Moly! It has been one incredible ride.

The weeks leading up to 2007 have been a pivotal point and a profound testing ground for you and all life on the planet. Any place within you that was not strong enough to go to the next level was burned away. This has been a painful and sometimes a brutal process. You have experienced massive symptoms in your weakest areas, physically, emotionally and spiritually. Stomach and digestion and sinus areas were hard hit. Many of you have felt completely leveled and were not able to do anything but sit it out. Your nerves are toast . . . like you have post traumatic stress syndrome, the cosmic type. Motivation, knowing what you want to do, and short term memory have also been huge issues. Even in this intense testing ground, many of you FLEW HIGH while burning. It was blissfully painful. You vacillated between wild and beautiful dreams with not being able to sleep at all. You have risen. You are now the mythical phoenix rising from the burning ashes.

If you were wondering how you made it out of 2006 alive with all its intensities, you are here now because it was destined by your higher self and Universal Law. You have arrived at this place because of your immense courage and strong will to be of service to others and the planet. This is what allowed you to get this far.

You allowed yourself to sit with the burning . . . you felt it . . . and you learned from it. This has been an immense internal earthquake, and you have shifted and transmuted huge amounts of energy. You have aligned yourself to a higher frequency and one step closer to the new indescribable world ahead of you. Within the great depths of your consciousness, you were able to discover and put into action this higher state of awareness, and you have come to know and understand a deeper level of true compassion and unconditional love. You have also realized a deeper awareness of self worth. You will not tolerate being compromised again. You have amassed a great amount of spiritual collateral that you can now put into use.

Many of you were asked to make HUGE choices in life that called on your deepest integrity and highest awareness. Some of these choices caused you great pain and were a huge turning point that will change your life and personal relationships with family and friends forever. Any personal relationship you had at this time that was not operating with truth and integrity was transmuted, many times, by your own painful but right choices. You learned to apply tough love a.k.a. unconditional love. These choices triggered divorce like shifts for you. Divorces from family and friends that were feeding off your spiritual collateral.

Let us explain further. Where you spend your spiritual collateral, your divine God given energy, is exactly where the universe will give you more of that like energy. If you spend your energy on a lost cause, or toss it into a bottomless pit, the universe will think you choose to waste your energy in this way, and give you more situations to waste your energy. You have learned to clearly see where you are wasting your energy. You have also learned how to stop this self destructive pattern.

How do you determine what is a lost cause? A lost cause is where you have tried to heal a situation, but you were not effective, or your energy was not being accepted. If you continue to try to heal that area again and again, this is how you tell the universe you are choosing to be ineffective; thus receiving more of this type of situation. Expecting a different result with the same action, applied to the same situation is a form of insanity. Using your spiritual collateral in a place that you know you can’t possibly heal the situation is martyrism. Being the martyr may have worked in the past, but acting as a martyr now is counter productive. If you sacrifice yourself for another, even out of good intentions, you still do not raise the collective whole. One is raised while another (you) are depleted. The universal score is still the same. You render your spiritual collateral worthless.

Remember you live in a realm of free will. If your energy is being ineffective, it means this area does not want to be healed at this time. It is not appropriate to use your spiritual collateral against another’s free will (this is a form of psychic attack). Find another area where you can use your spiritual collateral, so we can all together tip the balance to truth, impeccability, peace, compassion and love. Using you spiritual collateral should be a win-win situation.

It will be VERY IMPORTANT in coming days that you spend your energy wisely by picking appropriate areas to put yourself into action. Remember you can’t heal anyone, anything, or any situation that does not want to be healed. BUT also remember that we are all connected. When you help anyone, anything, or any situation, even if you use your energy to help yourself, you help the collective whole. You add to the spiritual collateral of the universe. In fact, it is impossible to heal anyone, anything, or any situation without effecting the whole universe! So choose where to use your spiritual collateral wisely. This is your job as a member of the Galactic UN Peace Team!

We are sorry to say that many people made huge choices during this time as they acted out of their egos and wounds. They will find themselves on a different branch of the Tree of Life. Many will see this wrong turn and will right it immediately, as you emerge out of this testing ground. Others will continue on the path they chose not wanting to admit that they made a wrong turn. This is sad for us all. These ones will test you to see if you still want to waste your energy on lost causes.

Many bridges have been burned. The bridges that separated you from knowing that you are one family have fallen into ash. This has pushed the unification process another HUGE step forward. You have discovered that your family are not just the ones you were born and live with, but are also your neighbors and even the ones you bump into during the course of a day. It will be easy to see the sister and brother in the eyes of each person that you meet. You will not be strangers with each other any more.

The bridge between you, your past and history has been crossed over and joyfully burned. You can now can let go of your painful past and reinvent yourself. You will no longer see the world through your wounds, pain or fears. You have taken another powerful step towards freedom and mastery. The collective balance is being tipped toward a higher vibration because of your commitment to impeccability. The more you act and live from this higher vibration, the quicker the rest of the world will follow suit. It has to. Expect that this is so, and it is. This isn’t a miracle. It is simply the result of your hard work to stay positive and act from impeccability.

Now that you are through this challenging testing ground . . . expect your motivation and excitement for life to return with the lightness of a child at play, and at a much higher level than before. Yet we will also say here that you, the Earth and the Solar System have jumped to a higher frequency. It will take some getting use to. We expect that by the time you read this, you will feel this shift inside of you. You will feel the burden of the past lift off your shoulders. You will feel something deep inside of you stir . . . an impeccable inner power has awakened. You will feel like you can fly, and you will.

Key life considerations for 2007 are . . . Impeccability, Authenticity, Unity, Allowance, Adaptability and Love . . . and last but not least . . . have some FUN! 2007 is the year we will really begin to feel like we have finally arrived!

Aluna Joy Yaxk’in is an internationally known author, spiritual life coach, sacred site guide, alternative historian, ordained minister and modern mystic who inspires and encourages others to recognize and accept their own authentic divinity and connection to God.

Aluna Joy Yaxk’in, PO Box 1988, Sedona AZ 86339 Ph: 928-282-6292
E-mail: alunajoy@kachina.net